10 must have FREE Android apps (part 1)

My recent switch from iOS to Android has given me the chance to discover some fantastic new free apps.

Of course there are staple apps like Dropbox, Skype, etc. that everyone knows about already, but this post is NOT about these. Rather, I would like to present relatively unknown but terrific must-have programs for your Android.

Forget about having to to convert video files into special formats for viewing on your Android; MoboPlayer lets you play any video file that you may have straight, including MKV, without having to re-encode and/or convert. It also plays subtitle files in popular formats. Note: some devices (such as my Galaxy Note) already have a player that can do this, so you might want to check that out beforehand (although personally I do prefer MoboPlayer anyway).

TouchPal is similar to Swype, a keyboard that offers the sliding gesture based input alongside the ‘normal’ keyboard experience. And while Swype is available as an option on some phone brands (such as Samsung and others). If your phone does not come with Swype, or if you would like to try an alternative to Swype that may be even better (and has a built in voice recognition option to boot), then by all means check out TouchPal. (Note: I am in the latter category of users). If you don’t know what ‘sliding’ means, then I recommend you check it out for yourself. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Find contacts, apps, and everything else quickly by ‘drawing’ the first letter or two or three of whatever you are looking for, on screen, ‘Graffiti’ style. This is one of those apps that, until you actually try it, you would not believe how well it works.

A stylish browser for Android that claims to be the world’s fastest mobile web browser, and offers some nice features such as voice search, gesture controls, and tabbed browsing. But what puts this one over the edge and wins it a spot on this list is it’s support for add-ons; which are some of the very same free add-on’s that you have on your PC, such as Lastpass, Xmarks (both free) to name but two out of 60+ on offer.

One of the things I like most about Android is the ability to install a custom launcher that can transform your experience on your device, so are not ‘locked in’ to the default interface. I tried dozens of free launchers, and MoboLauncher is the one I like best, at least for now. Specifically, I like the ability to categorize apps into functional categories, rather than simply have my icons strewn about the screen.

If you have a smartphone then you have to have a task management app. Any.Do keeps it simple, and keeps it stylish, while somehow being a very sophisticated task management app. It Create lists, drag and drop tasks, and set up alarms. Any.Do has both Chrome and iPhone versions and well let you you manage not just your tasks but those of others such your colleagues or coworkers as well. It optionally connects to Google Tasks/Google Calendar as well.

While it sometimes seems that a similar app is introduced every day, take it from me that Pocket is the best. Since it’s earlier incarnation (where it was called ‘Read it Later’) Pocket has made strides, adding tags, filtering, and even the option to publish you own custom RSS feeds. But the reason I like it is that it downloads articles on your device for offline reading. It does this silently, in the background, and provides the option to only do so when connected to WIFI (so that it does not consume your expensive data plan bandwidth if that is a concern).

Everyone needs a good music player. I recommend InstaMusic because, like many of the apps in this article, it is stylish (nay beautiful) and simple! Amazingly, the developer chose to confine displayed ads into the settings pages rather than risk compromising the stylishness of the the main program interface (Kudos to him!).

All you need is Viber, an internet connection, and Viber installed on the phone of the person you would like to call, in order to make absolutely free hone calls and texts. What I like about Viber is (1) the fact that it piggybacks on your and your contacts actual cell phone numbers, in order to identify them, (2) it is ad free, and (3) it will automatically find and identify everyone on your contacts list that uses Viber. For free SMS and calls (including long distance or international calls), Viber is a must

While a weather app might seem a strange selection for a must-have apps list, I like this one for a single reason: it can display the temperature (in Celsius or Fahrenheit) permanently in the Android notification tray, which a lot of people might appreciate. Oh, it also can display weather maps and the like.

Notes: many screenshots in this article are larger than most typical screenshots, because they were taken on a Samsung Galaxy Note, which has a larger screen. Thanks go to reader Panzer for telling us about a few of the apps mentioned above.

I will take a look at Airdroid. So far I have been using MyPhoneExplorer, which is great for controlling your device, running backups and syncing contacts, calendar etc. Definitely worth a mention in an article like this http://www.fjsoft.at/en/

And my own favourites? Swiftkey X keyboard, Android Lost and Handcent.

Andrew

Aldiko- to import PDF and get free books from Project Gutenberg. Call Control- to block unwanted calls. CamScanner- to turn your phone into a document scanner. Crackle- to legally watch a lot of free movies. Dropbox – to upload files and photos to the cloud automatically. Flashlight – to make your Android a very useful light. GoLauncher- to get the best and most customizable launcher. GoLocker – replace the default phone lock with really cool ones. IMDB if you like to look up things about movies. My Fitness Pal to easily track calories and exercise. Navy Clock to sync your phone clock to the National Naval Clock (official time). Shazam to identify a song. Tiny Shark for a portable version of Groveshark. Don’t forget other essentials like Goggle Translate, Google Maps, Google Voice and Adobe Air.

Samer

Thanks guys for some great tips! I will look at all of the apps you mentioned when writing ‘part2’.

Raj

Hi Samer,

Great list of apps- I tried anydo, touchpal and gesture search and I love them. I had lots of problems installing swype before and was missing the swipe keyboard. Touchpal is good if not better than swype and it is free. Also love the elegant interface of anydo.

May I recommend Winamp – I have used the desktop version since 10 years now and the android app is among my favorite ones.

I shout out a third vote for MyPhoneExplorer to be in the second round of review.

I searched high and low for a viable free tool that could Sync my Calendar, Email, Contacts, Photo’s and Video’s and MyPhoneExplorer was the only tool that I found that is actively developed and met all of the needs that I had.

Hip-Hip-Hooray for MyPhoneExplorer.

If there is a better alternative, I’d like to hear about that. You could very easily do an entire article on phone syncing with Outlook.

Kind Regards,

Tom

Siddharth

Hi, nice list of apps, however, I would also like to add Mobitexter, which allows you to send (as well as sync) SMS from your computer, via your Andriod phone. Because of the sync thing, the messages can also be accessed from within the web browser, and can be send directly from the browser, without even requiring to touch the phone.

A.J.

I’ve enjoyed the apps I’ve installed through your recommendations — AirDroid, TouchPal, MoboLauncher — here with one exception, so far: InstaMusic. It’s buggy, crashes constantly, and is incredibly unresponsive. I’ll have to check out Winamp that Raj mentioned to see if it’s better, because the basic music player that came with my droid phone is awful.

Viber

Hi, This is a member of the Viber Development Team! 🙂

Thanks for putting Viber on your list. We are very happy to see that so many people worldwide are interested in our application.

Viber is an awesome app and its features are really cool. “it will automatically find and identify everyone on your contacts list that uses Viber.” – this is something really interesting about Viber. Gesture Search is something that I love. I use this app not only for searching contacts and apps, but also for playing. Its very cool app indeed.

For a launcher, I use Zeam. For videos, I use RockPlayer. Aside from that, these are some fantastic suggestions! I’m now using WeatherUnderground, and loving it (although it takes forever to load occasionally).

Thank you for the app recommendations. I am old school and have not embraced fully technology. I kind of enjoy the freedom of being disconnected. ASM may change that. I look forward to using some of these apps.